I’ve built a pillow fort here under the National Affairs Desk as I know there will be incoming.

In 1972 I went in the next to the last draft. It was the only lottery I ever won. It seems America has always had a love/hate relationship with the draft.

In the first draft during the Civil War you could pay someone $300 to serve in your stead if you were drafted. This enabled the wealthy and middle class to avoid conscription. In July 1863, there was a massive riot over the draft in NYC. President Lincoln had to deploy needed troops to […]

We’re getting there. Dig a bunker. Stock up on ammo. Buy booze, water, and freeze dried food. Basically stock up like it’s the Zombie Apocalypse only not zombies.

Since the November election we have seen President Trump’s disturbing pivot to the pacific rim. First he takes a call from the President of Taiwan putting decades of our carefully maintained one China policy in jeopardy.

China was disturbed enough to need calmed down by the Obama State Department. This was before the Trump’s inauguration. On the campaign trail The Donald railed against Chinese trade policies, our trade deficit, and accusations […]

We’ve tumbled down the rabbit hole, smashed through the looking glass and plunged into what we wish was an alternate reality.

Since the rise of Trump we’ve seen the rise and normalization of State Media.

Here in the states, Fox and right wing talk radio become basically the propaganda arm of the modern Republican Party. In 2009 they were the PR agency for the Tea Party with near constant praise. Fox touted rallies, called disruption of Congressional town halls grass roots patriotism and let on air hosts appear as featured speakers.

In the room off my kitchen is a decade old computer desk once used for my antiquated Dell. I have since christened it the National Affairs Desk so I feel as if I’m holed up someplace important, cowering beneath in an attempt to make the voices stop while honing my elementary school duck-and-cover skills.

Everytime I try to put my thoughts down in print something else explodes. And I have a bad case of shiny key syndrome, so easily distracted. Just like the press.

Since November 8th I have gone through the five stages of grief so many times […]

I despised Richard Nixon. That said, I would vote for him over Donald Trump in a heartbeat. At least that venal, rat bastard knew how the world and politics worked. The latter he understood intimately.

Trump’s favorite mantra now is how the election will be stolen in “those” communities. As he says, “You know what I mean.” Yes Donald, we do all too well. With that idea bouncing around in that coke-fueled velociraptor’s mind, Don’s not sure if he’ll concede the election if, horrors, he loses. With Trump’s over inflated ego, he knows he never loses. Donald always wins bigly.

There was a debate Sunday night. It was the lowest rated debate in decades. Perhaps after the first, people passed on tuning in because many figured they’d seen it all. They saw enough to significantly move polls in Secretary Clinton’s favor. Then came the Access Hollywood video. That debacle has moved the numbers even more in Clinton’s favor.

Over that weekend there was a Titanic moment where you had multiple Republicans jumping ship with no lifeboats in reach. They expressed outrage over what Don said. He’d finally gone a bridge too far. This after Trump’s record in his meteoric rise […]

The VP Debate was billed as the Thrilla from Vanilla. As it turned out, not so much.

Both Senator Tim Kaine and Governor Mike Pence came out to do their duty defending the top of the ticket as designated Rottweilers. Both barked and pulled the tow chain taut.

Pence, a former radio talk show host, had a better stage presence, mostly calm and collected. Kaine had that nervous on a big stage fast talking, caffeine overdose style going. An interesting contrast indeed.

We saw Kaine come out as everyone’s favorite Dad get a bit aggressive. He was, at times, like […]

I’ve spent the last few weeks watching this election in a post surgery percocet haze. I don’t recommend drug use mixing with politics but, it’s worked for me lately. Now that the treatment is behind me I’m appalled by everything.

Close polls are disturbing though in 2012 polling gave us President Romney. So, I’ll stand back a bit there. The polling does give us a snapshot. And this selfie of America shows the worst of us gravitating to The Donald. His running mate Mike Pence is the anti gay/pro life poster child for the far right. The alt right drones embrace Trump for bringing […]

I am exhausted. After all multiple head explosions take their toll. And it’s only July.

I try hard to keep up with the current Presidential Campaign. I follow assorted news sites on Twitter and Facebook. I have Google and Yahoo news aggregating sites. I read opinion pieces here and across the web. I have been called an information sponge (and not in a good way) by people who were once in my life and not there now.

Keeping up with the daily wild accusations, defenses, damage control, outright misrepresention of facts and complete denial of reality is getting to be […]

“The Quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little, and it will fail, to the ruin of all. Yet hope remains…” ~ Galadriel, “The Lord Of The Rings”

OK. That quote may be a tad melodramatic. It presupposes Trump is The Dark Lord Sauron. Well the egos are of a similar size. However Sauron had a clear vision of what he wanted to accomplish. That was the complete subjugation of Middle Earth to his overarching evil. Trump however has a vision that’s all over the map. On the edge of that map we should see the […]

This election cycle we’ve seen an influx of excited new voters the likes of which I’ve not seen since my McGovern days. Passionate. Idealistic. Energized. The downside is a generation of new, inexperienced voters seem to be drawing a very wrong conclusion about politics. If your candidate loses it’s not voter fraud, suppression and it wasn’t rigged by the party. Like baseball, there’s no crying in politics.

One overarching lesson I’ve learned from years of politics is, you lose an election, you walk it off, wipe your brow and move on to the next battle. You get tough, make your […]